MOUNTAIN

NEW MEXICO

Day 4 of 77! We spent the night in the car last night, which was not an idea I would recommend. However, it was totally worth it to see the Carlsbad Caverns. I felt like we were in another world as we spiraled downward on and on into the caves. We walked about four miles and Everly wanted to walk/run/jump almost the entire way. The caverns were super dark, so I apologize for the video quality, but I wanted you to at least get a slight idea of how beautiful they are.

COLORADO

Ended the first week of our road trip across the United States in one of our favorite places. We couchsurfed in Colorado Springs with an amazing guy named Scott.

In the morning, we visited Pikes Peak, and though we lived in Colorado for a short time, I actually never went there. It was a 20-mile drive to the top, and the view was spectacular!

Lamar's band, The Notionaries, played a show in Colorado Springs that evening at a venue called The Black Sheep with our good friends in the band HERESTOFIGHTIN'.

We spent some time in Denver the next day at The Big Wonderful, where Lamar's band also played.​

WYOMING & IDAHO

We left my (Ashley's) parents' house on day seven and are traveling through uncharted territory now. When we first entered Wyoming, it was SO incredibly windy. We are from Oklahoma, so that's saying something. We actually went through a tornado warning and had to outrun the storm. We made it to The Grand Tetons by sunset. When we were pulling up, Lamar and I didn't know if we were looking at mountains or strange clouds, because surely mountains couldn't be that tall. If you've never been to Grand Teton National Park, you must put this on your bucket list! We went to Yellowstone next. We'd heard stories about people going off the beaten path in the park and "melting" because of the hot springs and geysers, so chasing a toddler around that area was a little scary. Then again, Lamar says that's a little unreliable because a drunk guy told him the story.

Next, we headed out to Craters of the Moon in Idaho. The wind was unlike anything I've ever experienced. Lamar decided to run up a volcano, which was an incredibly bad idea. I got back and ran out to go to the trunk to get him some oxygen bottles (who knew I would have needed those, haha) and rocks, full-size rocks, started hurling at me and things started blowing out of the trunk. I ran to grab them, and Lamar swung the car door open to help me and hit my arm, which is still bruised somehow, and I started crying. Meanwhile, Everly is in the car saying, "Windy!" at the top of her lungs.

We went to visit the caves after this whole scenario, but all of our batteries died-phone, camera, go pro- and we decided it was probably time to leave. We will return one day, with awesome wind jackets, and explore the caves. They really made me feel like I was in another world.

UTAH

Rob also hosted a girl from China and another from Miami/Venezuela while we were there. It was such a cool experience to be able to meet nice people from all over the world.

It was bittersweet to leave Park City, but we went on our way after two nights. Bryce Canyon was our next stop, and yet again, we met more amazing world-travelers. Jerem and Marine, a sweet French couple, offered to share their campsite with us on our first night in the park. We had fun sharing stories, and Lamar and I decided we both need to learn French so we can one day explore France the way we are exploring the US. ​

On our family road trip across the United States, Lamar, Everly and I got to experience Utah for the first time. There are so many places to explore. We loved the beauty of Park City, which reminded us of Colorado that we love so much, to the dry and rocky trails of Bryce Canyon to the swampy, green oasis in Zion.

We pulled into Park City, UT a little late in the day and were greeted by an awesome guy whom we met on Couchsurfing (such an incredible site for meeting fellow travel lovers). He grilled out for us and made us yummy drinks and let us relax in his hot tub with an incredible view. The next day, he had his assistant, Lili Lamar (also a beautiful figure skater) take her daughter to come play with ours, and the little girls had so much fun! Also, Lili was such a cool person to meet. She had such a great positive energy about her.

As you can see from the video, Bryce Canyon was just incredible. I both discovered and conquered my fear of heights and Lamar was amazing as he carried Everly in a backpack for 10 miles!

After one more night in Bryce, we were on to Arizona and the Grand Canyon, but not after taking a different path than our original plan to check out Zion National Park, and we are SO glad that we did! We spent the morning by the river. People were floating past us and would stop to chat. We met a lot of people from California/Arizona who love camping at Zion each year.

Afterward, we attempted a shorter hike since the day before had been pretty intense. We went about two miles up the Riverside Walk trail. It was such a beautiful oasis. You would never imagine that it would look so green. Everly's favorite part was the "squaws" aka squirrels. She loved them so much that she would literally cry "squaw bye bye! squaw nigh nigh" every time they ran off. That is until she ran up to one and it ran right up to her. She didn't like that too much.

Utah was definitely a state I will always remember. There are so many places to explore. We loved the beauty of Park City, which reminded us of Colorado that we love so much, to the dry and rocky trails of Bryce to the swampy, green oasis in Zion. This state really had so incredibly much to enjoy. Utah was definitely a state I will always remember. It is seriously one of the most beautiful states I have ever been to, and definitely one worth exploring. ​